A worker was sacked by BP after sharing a Downfall parody meme about the state of enterprise bargaining with his colleagues. The sacking was upheld by Fair Work Commission deputy president Melanie Binet — a Michaelia Cash appointee and former Freehills colleague, who earlier this year had a decision overturned due to “lack of empathy towards an employee who missed a deadline, because his two-month old son had been diagnosed with a potentially life-threatening heart condition”. Binet compared the Downfall meme to other cases where workers had shouted that their managers were Nazis, and ruled that “when viewed in context … a reasonable person would consider the Hitler video inappropriate and offensive”. The AWU is now considering an appeal, because “anyone with a smartphone and a sense of humour can tell you, Hitler Downfall parody videos are not about comparing anyone to actual Nazis.” Indeed — I am not comparing Deputy President Binet to actual Nazis in this Downfall parody meme about her terrible Downfall parody meme decision.
6 September 2019